Cartridge belt or carrier.



P. R. BATGHELDE'R. ,GARTRIDGE BELT 0R CARRIER.

APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 20, 1908.

Patented Feb. 28

jfy/O fnvenof' @Qornqy UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

FRANK ROE BATCHELDER, 0F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MILLS WOVEN CARTRIDGE BELT COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A COR- PORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

CARTRIDGE BELT OR CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 20, 1908.

To alt whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRANK ROE BATCH- ELDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of lVorcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cartridge Belts oi' Carriers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My present invention relating to cartridge belts or carriers consists in means for preventing the points of the bullets of the cartridges which are placed in a cartridgepocket from resting upon the bottom of such pocket. rIhe general purpose in view is to prevent wear and injury of the said bottom by the said points. Then cartridges with sharp-pointed bullets are carried in cartridge-pockets of soft and flexible material, for instance web or fabric as in the case of the woven cartridge belts or carriers which are in extensive use at this time, their points, if allowed to rest upon the bottoms of the pockets, may be expected to work their way through so as to protrude, and eventually will wear out the said bottoms.

For the purpose of rendering the bottom of a cartridge-pocket more enduring, various expedients have been proposed. The use of metallic reinforcement with which the points of the bullets are permitted to make contact is undesirable, owing to tlie likelihood of dulling the said points, and the reinforcements heretofore proposed mostly increase the weight of a. belt or carrier more or less, and all thereof, except that produced in the weaving, are liable to render it clumsy in fact or in appearance, or both.

The principle involved in the present invention is that of supporting the cart-ridges in the pockets of a belt or carrier, not at the point of the bullet, but by suspension by means of one or more rests or supports operating, without contact with the said point itself, to arrest the descent of the cartridge or cartridges before the arrival of the point or points thereof at the pocket-botto1n, so4

that the sharp point of a bullet shall never rest upon the latter. The rests or supports which are provided in carrying the invention into effect may be variously formed, constructed, and applied, so long as the same shall act by engagement with a cartridge or clip, and without engagement with the actual point of a bullet.

rllie nature of the invention is clearly illustrated by the drawings, in which latter,--

Figure l is an isometric view of a portion of a cartridge belt or carrier, with the invention applied in connection with a. pocket for receiving cartridges aggrouped in clips. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a View in vertical cross-section in the plane of line 8, 3, of Fig. Q. Fig. 4 is a view similar to. Fig. l, but showing the pocket occupied by two series of cartridges in clips, and with a portion of the front wall broken away to show the engagement of a cartridge with one of the brackets. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3. but showing the cartridges and clips of Fig. 4C. Fig. 6 is a view in lioiiw zontal cross-section in the plane indicated by the dotted line 6. 6, in 5. Fig. 7 shows one of the clip-engaging pins of Figs. l to 5, detached, in side elevation. Fig. 8 shows the said pin in front elevation. Fig. 9 shows in plan one of the curved supports for engagementA with a cartridge-shoulder. Fig. 10 is an elevation of the concave face of the said curved support.

In the dra.wiiigS,-the body or main web of a cartridge belt or carrier is marked l.

The rear wall of a pocket is shown at 2, and 3 is the front wall thereof.

At 4 is a transverse partition dividing the pocket into two compartments, as in some instances heretofore. The end-walls of the respective 'compartments are marked 5, 5, and 6, 6, respectively.

So far as already mentioned, the features are or may be as heretofore.

The specific embodiment of the presentinvention which is shown in the drawings comprises the devices 7, 7, etc., which are shown applied to the end-walls 5, 5, and 6, 6, at intermediate points in the height of such end-walls, and the devices 8, 8, etc., which are shown applied to the walls 2 and 3 at the top of the latter. For convenience of designation in the course of this descrip tion and in certain of the claims I shall use the term brackets in referring to the said' ranged for engagement with the sides of cartridges, and the said spurs orpins are constructed and disposed to engage with the clips 9, 9.

The brackets 7, 7, etc., are shown located within the respective compartments of the cartridgepocket, and supported in place. upon the opposite end-walls of the said con'ipaiitments by riveting, as at 7a, 7, etc. The means and manner of attachment may be varied as found most expedient in practice. Each bracket is shown as having its inner side made concave transversely, to receive a portion of the exterior of a cartridge, and as having the other side thereof, c., the side which makes contact with the endwall to which it is attached, made of a con- Vex form transversely, to enable the said end-wall to bend around the exterior of the bracket wit-hout the formation of a bulge or a sharp angle in such end-wall.

The position of a bracket 7 upon the endwall to which it is attached is such that a cartridge will take bearing against the same,

in being inserted into the pocket, before the point of the bullet reaches the bottom of t-he pocket. This is shown most clearly in Figs. 4 and 5, in which the shoulder' at l()a of o-ne of the cartridges l0, 10, etc., rests in contact with the bracket. In Figs. 4 and 6, the iirst cartridge of the series or group occupying either' compartment engages with the i of engages with the bracket upon the opposite end-wall of the latter.

The brackets may be of any suitable inaterial, as metal, papier-mch, leather, web, etc., and the means and manner of their attachment or connection to the belt or carrier, as well as their shape or form, may vary as preferred. They are shown attached to the end-walls of the pocket-compartments, for engagement with the first and last cartridges of the series or group held by a clip, but I do not limit myself to this place of application, or with respect to engagement with the particular cartridges named. Each bracket is shown constructed for engagement with only a single cartridge, but it may be made double or triple, etc., to engage with a corresponding plurality of cartridges, one instance of which is when two or three clips and their cartridges are inserted into a single compartment, in which case the bracket may beconstructed and applied to engage with a. cartridge pertaining to each clip.

The spurs or pins 8, 8, etc., are shown riveted, as at 8a, 8a, etc., to the inner surfaces of the front and rear walls 3 and 2 of\ the pocket, with their acting ends rising above the upper edges of the said walls. The acting ends of the spurs or pins which are attached to the front wall-'are bent or inclined slightly toward the rear, andthose of the spurs or studs which are attached to the rear wall are projected slightly forward. The said spurs or pins are located properly upon the said walls to correspond with the positions of certa-in of the intervals between adjacent cartridges of a clip, and when a series of cartridges is inserted into a pocket-coinpartment and pushed home into the saine the acting ends of the corresponding spurs or pins occupy such intervals. The projection -of the said acting ends is properly proportioned to permit the lips or ianges 9, 9a, of the respective clips to pass down outside such ends, whereby the latter are confined in the intervals occupied by them. The clip in its descent is arrested by the spurs or pins before the points of the bullets reach the bot-tom of the pocket.-

The number of spurs or pins applied to each wall of a pocket, and the disposition and arrangement of the same upon the pocket-walls, may be varied in practice, and when the cartridge pocket is a divided one, and intended to carry two clips of oartridges, as in the drawings, the spurs or pins are arranged to support t-he respective clips independently of each other, as shown. In the present embodiment of the invention brackets and spurs or studs are both employed, but while I contemplate using them in some instances in combination, as shown, I may in others employ either kind of devices separately.

My invention is of very great value in holding the cartridges in a state of suspension, particularly in those cases in which it is desired to have the cartridges fit some what loosely in the pocket, and in the case of a pocket unprovided with a partition or division but receiving two or more clips. A portion of the fla-p which is employed in connection with the cartridge-pocket is shown at 12.

I claim as my invention:-

1'. In a cartridge containing belt or carrier, a cartridge-pocket provided with devices adapted to engage with a clip and with a cartridge held thereby and hold them suspended within said pocket to thereby limit the entrance of the cartridge lengthwise into the pocket, and thus keep the point of the bullet free from pressure against the lower portion of the pocket.

2. In a cartridge belt or carrier, the combinat-ion with a cartridge pocket, of a stop adapted to engage with acartridge clip and thereby limit the extent of the passage lengthwise into such pocket of the cartridges `which are held thereby.

8. In a cartridge belt or carrier, the combination with a cartridge pocket of substantially standard dimensions, to receive and house a group of cartridges, of a support adapted to engage with a cartridge-clip and thereby arrest the inward movement into such pocket of the cart-ridges which are held by Such clip, preventing pressure of the points of the bullets against the bottom of the pocket.

4. In a cartridge Abelt or carrier, the combination with a cartridge pocket, of a rest or support projecting into the upper portion of the interior thereof whereby the lengthwise inward movement ot a cartridge into the pocket is definitely limited and the point of the bullet kept free from contact.

5. In a cartridge belt or carrier, the coinbination with a pocket having depth sub stantially equal to the length of the cartridge to be housed and adapted to receive a group of cartridges held by a clip, of stops projecting inwardly from a wall of said pocket and spaced so as to occupy the intervals between cartridges and engage the clip, so as to limit the entrance of the cartridges into the pocket and l1 old their lower ends out or' wearing Contact with the betteln wall ot said pocket.

6. In a cartridge belt or carrier, the combination with a cartridge pocket adapted to receive aV group of cartridges held by a clip7 of a plurality of stops adapted to occupy intervals at different points between cartridges and engage with such clip to limit the extent of the entrance of the cartridges into the pocket and prevent wearing Contact with the bottom of said pocket.

7. In a cartridge belt or carrier, the combination with a pocket adapted to receive a plurality of series of cartridges held by clips7 of means for supporting such series independently, definitely limiting the extent ot' entrance of the cartridges into the pocket and holding the bullet noses out of wearing contact with the bottoni of the pocket.

8. In a cartridge belt or carrier,` the combination with a pocket adapted t0 receive cartridges held by'clips, of means for independently supporting a plurality of clips, thereby definitely limiting the extent oit en- 45 trance of the respective series of cartridges into the pocket and holding the bullet noses out of wearing Contact with the bottom orf the pocket.

In testil'nony whereof I ailix my signature 50 in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK ROE BATCl-IELDER.

litnesses ANNA M. BROBERG, FLORENCE L. GREEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

